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$110M Payroll = Pennant Contender

If I understand correctly David Wright is only being paid $8M this year [with a chunk deferred to create payroll flexibility] and if Dickey follows the same path and re-signs for the $5M he is due now and gets his $25M extra split in years 2 and 3 the Mets could go for it now with a $110M payroll and contend immediately. Here's how:

1) Sign Michael Bourn [5 45 .275 40 SBs] for an average of the $15M he seeks with a maybe a lower first year salary.
2) Sign Nick Swisher [25 90 .275 average year] for $9M for 2013 and a bit higher in year two. Staying in NY may be enough of an incentive. If he cannot be gotten for that price stick with re-signing Hairston or Ross for RF.
3) Go for it and sign Delmon Young [15 85 .284 average] for LF for $12M per/3 years plus options...if higher back end the deal slightly...he may not be great defensively but the 27 year old can sure hit. Drove in 93 and 112 runs for MIN.
4) Sign Olivo [avg. in 400 ABs is 14 50 .240] for $3M
5) Sign two retread pitchers for the pen/swing starter for $1.5M incentive laden contracts...if they excel the Wilpons can afford to pay more and if the Mets don't contend then trade them off in July...some teams play this game well.

$56.5 + $33.5 + $13 = $103M plus Bay payout [$7M?] = $110M. The lineup would be strong and balanced and young enough to stay as a core for years where Olivo is the only guy on the hitting side older than 32 [Swisher]. We know how old Johan and RA are but we also have the Kiddie Corps rising into place. If the bullpen kids can come through in reasonable fashion [and spare bullpen arms are the cheapest thing to get through March] this team is an instant contender if folks have average healthy years. Next year Santana's $24M comes off so raises and slight backloads are affordable. Washington did just about the same thing---jumping from last place to contender status as their young pitching arrived...can't we expect the same? Isn't the battle plan laid out by SA the reason Wright stayed???
Insightful comments welcomed.

I could live with that but wouldn't it be nice to have Duda available to DH 15-18 games so we have a better chance against the AL, back up first base, LF and RF, and pinch hit rather than counting on him for 500 ABs against many lefties? He may develop into a better overall hitter but he remains a bit one dimensional...future trade bait perhaps to an AL team. Maybe Hairston instead of Young or Swisher if the price is too steep...we just cannot count on Nieuwenhuis, Duda and Baxter as starters at this point.

If I understand correctly David Wright is only being paid $8M this year [with a chunk deferred to create payroll flexibility] and if Dickey follows the same path and re-signs for the $5M he is due now and gets his $25M extra split in years 2 and 3 the Mets could go for it now with a $110M payroll and contend immediately. Here's how:

1) Sign Michael Bourn [5 45 .275 40 SBs] for an average of the $15M he seeks with a maybe a lower first year salary.
2) Sign Nick Swisher [25 90 .275 average year] for $9M for 2013 and a bit higher in year two. Staying in NY may be enough of an incentive. If he cannot be gotten for that price stick with re-signing Hairston or Ross for RF.
3) Go for it and sign Delmon Young [15 85 .284 average] for LF for $12M per/3 years plus options...if higher back end the deal slightly...he may not be great defensively but the 27 year old can sure hit. Drove in 93 and 112 runs for MIN.
4) Sign Olivo [avg. in 400 ABs is 14 50 .240] for $3M
5) Sign two retread pitchers for the pen/swing starter for $1.5M incentive laden contracts...if they excel the Wilpons can afford to pay more and if the Mets don't contend then trade them off in July...some teams play this game well.

$56.5 + $33.5 + $13 = $103M plus Bay payout [$7M?] = $110M. The lineup would be strong and balanced and young enough to stay as a core for years where Olivo is the only guy on the hitting side older than 32 [Swisher]. We know how old Johan and RA are but we also have the Kiddie Corps rising into place. If the bullpen kids can come through in reasonable fashion [and spare bullpen arms are the cheapest thing to get through March] this team is an instant contender if folks have average healthy years. Next year Santana's $24M comes off so raises and slight backloads are affordable. Washington did just about the same thing---jumping from last place to contender status as their young pitching arrived...can't we expect the same? Isn't the battle plan laid out by SA the reason Wright stayed???
Insightful comments welcomed.

wow.... just leave it up to you to come up with more and more dream scenarios that everyone knows will not happen. Out of Bourn, Young, and Swisher we will sign exactly 0 of them. Stop with your nonsense.

wow.... just leave it up to you to come up with more and more dream scenarios that everyone knows will not happen. Out of Bourn, Young, and Swisher we will sign exactly 0 of them. Stop with your nonsense.

If you don't like my posts just ignore them. There is a lot of stuff thrown into this website that is not carefully thought out. You may disagree but this is a doable plan.

It's nice to think about but 110 million dollars for an annual payroll is a pipe dream to this point with this ownership.

Maybe the more realistic FA options become clearer next year when they only have presumably 3 contracted players (Wright, Niese and hopefully Dickey)

We need a bet going in here about how many first, second and third tier FAs SA signs to complete the OF and C spots. While I would love for him to go all in and follow my plan they may cap him at $100M which means he gets one from Column A [Bourn, Swisher or Young], one from Column B [Hairston or Ross] and one from Column C [Olivo]. LOOGYs and backup starters from the retread scrap heap.

If I understand correctly David Wright is only being paid $8M this year [with a chunk deferred to create payroll flexibility] and if Dickey follows the same path and re-signs for the $5M he is due now and gets his $25M extra split in years 2 and 3 the Mets could go for it now with a $110M payroll and contend immediately. Here's how:

1) Sign Michael Bourn [5 45 .275 40 SBs] for an average of the $15M he seeks with a maybe a lower first year salary.
2) Sign Nick Swisher [25 90 .275 average year] for $9M for 2013 and a bit higher in year two. Staying in NY may be enough of an incentive. If he cannot be gotten for that price stick with re-signing Hairston or Ross for RF.
3) Go for it and sign Delmon Young [15 85 .284 average] for LF for $12M per/3 years plus options...if higher back end the deal slightly...he may not be great defensively but the 27 year old can sure hit. Drove in 93 and 112 runs for MIN.
4) Sign Olivo [avg. in 400 ABs is 14 50 .240] for $3M
5) Sign two retread pitchers for the pen/swing starter for $1.5M incentive laden contracts...if they excel the Wilpons can afford to pay more and if the Mets don't contend then trade them off in July...some teams play this game well.

$56.5 + $33.5 + $13 = $103M plus Bay payout [$7M?] = $110M. The lineup would be strong and balanced and young enough to stay as a core for years where Olivo is the only guy on the hitting side older than 32 [Swisher]. We know how old Johan and RA are but we also have the Kiddie Corps rising into place. If the bullpen kids can come through in reasonable fashion [and spare bullpen arms are the cheapest thing to get through March] this team is an instant contender if folks have average healthy years. Next year Santana's $24M comes off so raises and slight backloads are affordable. Washington did just about the same thing---jumping from last place to contender status as their young pitching arrived...can't we expect the same? Isn't the battle plan laid out by SA the reason Wright stayed???
Insightful comments welcomed.

You're somewhat off on many of your salary numbers, and totally unrealistic on your FA contracts, but other than that, your concept is right. I won't go into details on each player, but committments to the current roster, including projections for arb-eligible players is $67.75 million. My thought is you have about $30 million to get to last year's payroll.

You're not getting Bourn for 3 years. With Boras as his agent, I'm guessing it would take 5 yrs./$80 million. ($10 in 2013, then $16-$17-$17-$16 with a $4 mil buyout on a 2018 option) He wants better than Upton got.

No way is Swisher signing for 2 years and $20 million, lets say. You're way out of his ballpark, so forget him.

And while you're at it, forget Delmon too. And I don't want Olivo.

If I were going your route, I'd do:

Bourn, as I said above. $10 million in 2013
Cody Ross - 2 yrs/$18 million plus a team option with a $3 million buyout = 2/$21 = $8.25 million in 2013
Hairston - 2 years/$6.5 million = $2.5 million in 2013
Jair Jurrjens - $3.5 million plus significant incentives
Ronny Cedeno - $1.25 million
Matt Lindstrom - 2 yrs/$8 million - $3.75 in 2013
Peter Moylan - $750 K
Trade for either Hector Sanchez or J.P. Arencibia as catcher

All the money in the world won't make the Mets playoff contenders if they don't spend the money on the right mix of players built for Citi Field and the city of New York for that matter. Jason Bay, nice guy but is built for the Pacific Northwest not the concrete jungle of the east coast.